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Taghreedat ( ar, مبادرة تغريدات) is the largest Arabic crowdsourcing initiative in the MENA region. With a community of over 9,000 Arab translators, editors and writers residing in 35 countries around the world, of which are 20 Arab countries, Taghreedat aims to build an active Arabic digital content creation community that contributes directly and significantly to increasing the quality and quantity of
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
content on the web, through
crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...
to increase Arab users' contribution to enriching Arabic content on the web through
original content Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from replica, reproductions, clones, forgery, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romantici ...
projects, and projects geared towards
localization Localization or localisation may refer to: Biology * Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence * Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...
and
Arabization Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...
. Starting on May 31, 2011, on Twitter, as a call to action to increase the quality and quantity of Arabic digital content on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
via the hashtag #letstweetinarabic, Taghreedat has created a community of Arabic digital content enthusiasts from all parts of the Arab world, through its verified account on Twitter: @Taghreedat, which has over 142,000 followers. Taghreedat has collaborated with a number of international and regional stakeholders, among which are
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
-based organizations and companies including:
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, the
Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
,
Storify Storify was a social network service that let the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Storify was launched in September 2010, and had been open to the public since April 2011. Storify was ...
, Easy Chirp,
Meedan Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. Meedan buildCheck an open-source software platform for fact-check ...
,
Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...
,
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,
WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
, Easy Chirp, Coursera and Amara in addition to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
-based
TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...
, Smartling and
Foursquare Four square is a ball game. Four square may also refer to: Internet and entertainment * Foursquare City Guide, a local search and discovery app * ''4 Square'' (game show), a British game show * ''4 Square'' (TV series), a Canadian children's s ...
in addition to
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-based GameLoft and
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...
based twofour54 – the supporting organization which currently funds this initiative.


Recognition and impact

* On October 4, 2012, The
Dubai School of Government The Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, previously known as Dubai School of Government, is a research and teaching institution in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which focuses on public policy in the Arab world. The school was established in ...
released its latest report, including a case study on Taghreedat as a model for social entrepreneurship in the Arab region, citing Taghreedat's impact on applying
crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...
to increase the quality and quantity of Arabic digital content. The report was released by The Governance and Innovation Program (GIP) at the
Dubai School of Government The Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, previously known as Dubai School of Government, is a research and teaching institution in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which focuses on public policy in the Arab world. The school was established in ...
, in partnership with
SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...
MENA, and included a regional eight country survey to measure perceptions on the impact of social media usage on economic empowerment, employment and entrepreneurship in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. * On August 29, 2012, Taghreedat was selected as one of the Middle East's Top 25 Tech Initiatives leading the technology innovation scene in the Middle East region, in a list that has been created by ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''s Neil Parmar and published in Washington, D.C.-based Al Monitor. Taghreedat was ranked 12th in the list, making it the only nonprofit initiative to have been included in the list, which also highlighted included various startups as part of its rankings. * Previously, on March 9, 2012, during the Presidential Official Statements at the
ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
's Connect Arab States Summit held in
Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
,
Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
, the Egyptian Presidential Statement, delivered by
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
's Minister of Telecommunications singled out Taghreedat has one of the region's strongest efforts to enrich Arabic digital content. * In a recent
Klout Klout was a website and mobile app that used social media analytics to rate its users according to online social influence via the "Klout Score", which was a numerical value between 1 and 100. In determining the user score, Klout measured the size ...
study, dated April 2012, Taghreedat's Twitter account rounded in the top 5 most influential non-personal Arab
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
accounts, in terms of reach, volume of interactions, retweets, mentions and overall user network. * Taghreedat's projects have been covered in a number of international and regional media outlets, including:
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
, The Next Web, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', BBC World,
France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-M ...
, CNBC ArabiYa,
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
, Al Arabiya,
Sky News Arabia Sky News Arabia (stylised as Sky News عربية) ( ar, سكاي نيوز عربية ') is an Arabic 24-hour rolling news channel broadcast mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. It is a joint venture between UK-based Sky Group and Abu Dha ...
,
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
,
Khaleej Times ''Khaleej Times'' is a daily English language newspaper published in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched on 16 April 1978, ''Khaleej Times'' is the UAE's longest-running English daily newspaper. History and profile A partnership between the U ...
,
Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
, ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'',
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
,
Arabian Business ''Arabian Business'' (''AB'') is a weekly business magazine published in Dubai and focusing on global and regional news analysis. The brand is aimed at the English- and Arabic-speaking communities and is published in both languages. Its circula ...
, '' The National'', Al Youm Al Sabe' and others. * Taghreedat has also participated in a number of international and regional events to showcase its community-driven projects including
Wikimania 2012 Wikimania is the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, organized by volunteers and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, other wikis, open-source software, f ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and
TEDGlobal TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
in Idinbrugh,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. The initiative also participated in the
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...
Media Summit, where it held and spoke at a panel discussion on crowdsourcing with three of its key international stakeholders:
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Storify Storify was a social network service that let the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Storify was launched in September 2010, and had been open to the public since April 2011. Storify was ...
and
Meedan Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. Meedan buildCheck an open-source software platform for fact-check ...
. Taghreedat also participated at the
ITU Telecom World ITU Telecom is part of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs. ITU Telecom organizes the global ITU Telecom World event, the platform for inn ...
2012, which was held in
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, UAE. The initiative spoke at a panel discussion on
Big Data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
and how
crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...
fits into the ever-increasing debate on data ownership.


Partnerships and collaborations

Taghreedat has collaborated with the following international digital content companies and organizations: *
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, globally *
Twitter, Inc. Twitter, Inc. is an American social media company based in San Francisco, California. The company operates the social networking service Twitter. It previously operated the Vine short video app and Periscope livestreaming service. Twitter ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
*
TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
*
Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
in San Francisco *
Storify Storify was a social network service that let the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Storify was launched in September 2010, and had been open to the public since April 2011. Storify was ...
in San Francisco *
Meedan Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. Meedan buildCheck an open-source software platform for fact-check ...
in San Francisco *
Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...
in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
*
WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
* GameLoft in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
* Easy Chirp in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
* Coursera in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
* Smartling in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
* Amara in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
*
Foursquare Four square is a ball game. Four square may also refer to: Internet and entertainment * Foursquare City Guide, a local search and discovery app * ''4 Square'' (game show), a British game show * ''4 Square'' (TV series), a Canadian children's s ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...


Taghreedat's projects


Twitter Arabization Project

The first of Taghreedat's projects which commenced on October 22, 2011, Taghreedat gathered a group of volunteers to Arabize over 190
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
glossary terms from English to Arabic to be then applied on Twitter's Arabic interface. Taghreedat collaborated with Twitter to develop such glossary, through a campaign that the initiative launched under the hashtag #letstweetinarabic to create momentum and awareness and was considered by Twitter as a grassroots step in the eventual launch of Twitter's Arabic interface, which Taghreedat and thousands of Arab volunteers at Twitter's Translation Center have contributed to make it a reality.


Arabic Wikipedia Editors Program

In cooperation of the
Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
, Taghreedat has launched the Arabic Wikipedia Editors Program – a regional program which targets regular Internet users to train them (both online & offline) become Arabic Wikipedia editors. The program is composed of two main components: online training as well as offline workshops (training component) in addition to a reward component in the form of official certificates that the volunteer participants will be receiving. The project was launched in mid June 2012 and continues to attract new Arabic Wikipedia editors.


Storify Arabization Project

In mid May 2012, Taghreedat announced that it has started working with San Francisco-based
Storify Storify was a social network service that let the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Storify was launched in September 2010, and had been open to the public since April 2011. Storify was ...
, the online curation social platform, to Arabize its website interface. Crowd-sourced community work on the project continued for 3 weeks until June 7, 2012. Starting July, Taghreedat has started working with Storify on the back-end to ensure the Arabic Storify interface is implemented while taking Arabic text placement in consideration. When launched, Arabic will become among the first 3 languages to be applied to the online curation website interface.The Next Web – Storify Working with Middle Eastern Initiative Taghreedat To Translate Storify Into Arabic


First Arabic Tech/Web 2.0 Dictionary

Taghreedat is developing the first crowd-sourced Arabic technology dictionary for technology and social media terms, translated from English to Arabic. The dictionary comprises over 6,500 technology terms in various fields, including: cyber safety, cyber security, graphic design, PC terminology and more. Started in mid June 2012, work is currently ongoing to gather the Taghreedat community votes on all 6500 terms. The dictionary, expected to be launched later this year, has attracted the attention of a number of US and UK media outlets, tipping it as the first crowd-sourced collection of Arabic technology terms in the MENA region.


TED Website Localization Project

On September 4, 2012, Taghreedat announced that it has begun working with the
TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...
headquarters in New York to localize its official website into Arabic for the first time. The project will be carried our by Taghreedat's volunteer base, applying the same crowdsourcing model that Taghreedat has applied in its previous localization projects with
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Storify Storify was a social network service that let the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Storify was launched in September 2010, and had been open to the public since April 2011. Storify was ...
.


Memorandum of Understanding with Meedan

At its panel discussion session with a number of its international stakeholders including
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Storify Storify was a social network service that let the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Storify was launched in September 2010, and had been open to the public since April 2011. Storify was ...
and
Meedan Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. Meedan buildCheck an open-source software platform for fact-check ...
, Taghreedat announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Meedan Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. Meedan buildCheck an open-source software platform for fact-check ...
, the
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
based social translation and software NGO. This collaboration focuses on translating
Open Education Resources Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" describes publicly accessible materials and r ...
(OER), and hence increasing the availability of educational resources in Arabic language for users worldwide, particularly students. The partnership will promote Taghreedat and Meedan's common goal of providing access to high quality Arabic digital educational content, Open Educational Resources, through online social translation software in the Middle East. This new agreement will allow Meedan, which has been working on building an online translation community since 2008, to focus its resources on program and software design and delivery. Taghreedat will work towards translating all online educational content and dialogue initiatives into Arabic through its active social media community of over 2500 volunteers.


Khan Academy Video Subtitling Project

On November 6, 2012,
Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...
launched an effort with Taghreedat to localize its educational video library into Arabic, offering an opportunity for all Arabic speaking learners worldwide to access a vast amount of quality open educational resources in their native language for free. The project came as the first tangible outcome of Taghreedat's MoU with California-based
Meedan Meedan is a technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. Meedan buildCheck an open-source software platform for fact-check ...
, which was signed in October at the
Abu Dhabi Media Summit The Abu Dhabi Media Summit is an annual three-day international news media summit held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, dealing with the transition to digital technology in the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, East Asia, and China. It was f ...
. The partnership directly falls into Arabizing
Open Educational Resources Open educational resources (OER) are Instructional materials, teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and Free license, licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" descri ...
and marks the beginning of a larger call to action to channel Arab users' enthusiasm to enrich Arabic content online into more areas than interface localization.


Arabic Web Days Program

On November 23, 2012, Google announced the launch of "Arabic Web Days" to enrich digital Arabic content, through a series of activities and initiatives to be implemented by a group of prominent international bodies and regional shows in Middle East and North Africa over a month. Google has partnered with Vinelab, Taghreedat and Wamda to shape the program, which also saw involvement of Twitter, WikiPedia, TED, SoundCloud and YouTube. The program was supported by local expertise from the Media Zone Authority in Abu Dhabi, twofour54 and Qatar Research Institute for Computing (QCRI).


Tajseed: the MENA Region's First Infographics Competition

As part of Arabic web days, Taghreedat has announced on November 26, 2012, that it has partnered with Tajseed, the MENA region's first Arabic infographics competition, to launch the competition in its second round with the goal of amplifying the competition's goal and discovering Arab talent in the infographics field. Tajseed's first round had attracted over 40,000 visits to the website: tajseed.net and over 10,000 views to the competition video when it was first launched. By the end of the first round, over 300 Arabic infographics submissions were received and the winners were all announced in May 2012.


WikiQuote Project

In cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation, Taghreedat is contributing to Wikimedia's
WikiQuote Wikiquote is part of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation using MediaWiki software. Based on an idea by Daniel Alston and implemented by Brion Vibber, the project's objective is to produce collaboratively a vast refer ...
project, a Wikipedia sister project that collects various popular quotes and cultural sayings from around the world. Taghreedat will be contributing with around 2,000 Arabic quotes – originating from the Arab world or translated into Arabic to enrich the Repository. The project started in May 2012 and will continue throughout the year.


WhatsApp Localization Project

On January 13, 2013, Taghreedat launched a collaboration with
WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
to improve the localization of its applicants on various mobile devices. The project attracted over 2,600 Arab volunteers who joined the WhatsApp Translation Center to suggest variations and add votes to the Arabic strings localized at the Translation Center. The project was followed by a collaboration between Taghreedat and
WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
to carry out the translation and localization of WhatsApp on Windows Phone 8.


GameLoft Website Localization Project

On February 26, 2013, Taghreedat announced its latest localization partnership with Gameloft, one of the top global gaming companies and producer of global gaming brands including
Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
,
Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
,
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
,
Rayman ''Rayman'' is a franchise of platform video games, created by video game designer Michel Ancel for Ubisoft. Since the release of the original ''Rayman'' game in 1995, the series has produced a total of 45 games across multiple platforms. The s ...
,
Asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
among others. The project was to localize over 250 strings of which the Gameloft website was comprised. The project marked the first time a global gaming company agrees to localize its website into Arabic to cater to Arabic speaking users particularly in the Middle East. Over 1,000 volunteers joined the project.


Wikimedia Commons Project

On April 6, 2013, Taghreedat announced its latest partnership with the
Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
to increase awareness, build interest and foster participation among Arabic social media users in
Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
. Users were encouraged to register
Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
usernames and then upload their own work on Commons. More than 1800 volunteers signed up for the project.


Easy Chirp Localization Project

On May 1, 2013, Taghreedat launched a collaboration with Easy Chirp, the accessible Twitter application for the blind and visually impaired. The project entailed localizing all 400 strings of the application to be then delivered to Easy Chirp prior to the launch of the application in Arabic language for the first time. In 10 days, over 1800 Arab volunteers signed up to participate in the project. All strings were completed within 24 hours after the project launch.


Coursera and Taghreedat: Arabic OER Partnership

On May 19, 2013, Taghreedat announced a partnership with Coursera, the world's leading Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider to translate major international university courses across multiple disciplines for all Arab students around the world, for free. Top global universities including Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Georgia, Duke, Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Edinburgh and many others are offering a number of their courses for free on Coursera in English language. With this partnership, some of the world's top university courses will finally be accessible for free for all Arabic speaking users. Taghreedat's 9,000 translators, writers and editors in 37 countries worldwide started to be involved in translating two university courses marking the official kick off of the collaboration with Coursera. Stanford University's Math Think Course and Duke University's Behavioral Economics will be the first two courses to be localized – with plans for more courses to follow. A group of Taghreedat translation language moderators will be managing the project quality throughout the following weeks to ensure the courses are localized accurately and are accent-free.


Amara.org Partnership

On August 30, 2013, Taghreedat announced a partnership with leading subtitling and captioning provider, Amara.org. Working with thousands of Arabic translators in the Taghreedat community, Amara and Taghreedat will be providing quality crowd-sourced Arabic subtitles to a wide range of organizations, businesses and projects worldwide. Amara will be involving top Taghreedat subtitlers and reviewers in major subtitling projects with some of the leading video producing organizations around the globe. Taghreedat will also carry out major Arabic subtitling projects on the platform, furthering its mission and commitment to increase Arabic digital content on the web.


References

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Sources


Taghreedat Website

Taghreedat on Twitter


* ttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/articles/galleries/leaders-behind-the-middle-easts-rising-tech-scene.html Top 25 Tech Stars in the Middle East Region - Al Monitor Original, By Neil Parmar
Video from the Wikimedia Foundation on the Taghreedat/Wikipedia Partnership

Wall Street Journal – Volunteers Compile Arabic e-Dictionary

The Next Web – Taghreedat Launches Arabic Wikipedia Editors Program

The Next Web: Middle East Volunteers Compile Web 2.0 Dictionary

Wikimedia Foundation Blog: Who Will Lead Arabic Language Initiative?


* ttp://blog.twitter.com/2012/03/twitter-now-available-in-arabic-farsi.html Twitter Blog: Twitter Now Available in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu
BBC International – Push for Arabic Content [Video
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The Next Web – Storify Working with Middle Eastern Initiative Taghreedat To Translate Storify Into Arabic

The Next Web: Volunteer Translators Flock to Crowdsource The First Arabic Tech and Social Media Dictionary

Variety Arabia: Taghreedat partners with Wikimedia Foundation

The National: Coming to the web: Twitter in Arabic

The National: Archiving website Storify to get Arabic translation thanks to Gulf volunteers

Dubai School of Government 2012 Report: Taghreedat Case Study (p. 39)

Khan Academy's Blog Post Announcement of its Taghreedat Collaboration
Arabic-language websites